Why do some products win and others change our lives? The answer is obvious for anyone who has read even a few pages on behavioural economics. We are 'predictably irrational', or to put it another way our emotional selves kick the ass of our rational selves. The challenge is that creating sensorial uniqueness is hard, constructing emotional perception is even harder again and then perfecting and synchronising the right combination with a relevant task where performance is immediately amplified as a result, is as rare as rocking horse poop.
The innovation pioneer Roberto Verganti has put it best with his simple model where technical advancement is placed in combat with the making of new meaning. The technical arms race is a winnable battle, but only for so long with increasing expense and diminishing returns. Appealing to an entirely new market and navigating a meaning shift requires an intimate connection to society but is richly rewarded when audiences react e.g. when sport started to write the codes of fashion and style. Doing both at the same time for the resulting 'technical epiphany', this again occurs a few times in a generation.
So what do you do when rocking horse poop rareness meets generationally slow regularity? We think the best place to start is by understanding how meaning is made in the first place.
Take a simple purchasing journey in a world like active apparel. And let's pick the harder, early adoption moment rather than when any item or brand is already 'hot' (early / late majority). It starts with context so let's imagine a high street in spring. No surprises that most store windows are working hard to appeal to the most dominant of my senses, my vision. What I see is (to start with) where I go and my desired self is searching for any signal of confirmation bias around my plans to get back outside, prepare for the summer or perhaps get my fitness plans back on track after the failed resolutions. In most cases the dressed mannequins will statically pose some version of what I'm looking for, but honestly I've 'seen' it all before. Then out of the corner of my eye I see the same scene, but this one is moving where the mannequins are fading into the backgrounds thanks to a throng of people who all seem to be doing the act that I aspire to embody. I walk in and the visual stimulation levels up an octave with colour and movement that almost overwhelms. A kind "good morning" breaks the noise and a quick conversation ensues. Not a "what are you looking for today" but more of a careful acknowledgement that I'm in the right place to explore how my hard to articulate needs of an active renaissance can be met.
Next my sense of touch takes over and I find myself reaching for the different textures. My perceived self is fired up predicting and interpreting what my hands are teaching me about what my whole body might soon experience. Softness encourages comfort, stretchiness inspires confidence and a subtle sense of cooling secures the message that this product is ready for work. This is THE moment that matters. It is crazily difficult to stand out as different, never mind better. The devil is in the detail and still not yet passed the test of being worth getting changed for. Normally this is where brands fail and the list of features or functional benefits are pushed into my awareness. But why not use this moment for connection or a story?
"Did you know that the skin is constantly losing moisture? It makes no sense to cover it in a material that's just going to feel sticky after 5 minutes of activity. We choose only those fibres that are most compatible with how the skin likes to feel. In fact, we're not sure that wicking is a smart move at all! Surely this just means that normal human cooling systems have failed!? We made this product specifically for people seeking to get active in Spring and we know how we'd want to feel so we made this in case you agree."
Finally, with desired and perceived selves aligned I head to the fitting room. The doubts are creeping in but more kind gestures and kindred spirits surround me before the moment of truth. The size is right, the fit is exceptional and my actual self is fully alive. I feel like I look good and I look like I feel good. I can't wait to get moving.
In many ways apparel is one place where meaning making is always the job to be done. But self expression is only one role for consideration. Being protected in the season at hand and working in unison with the complete life that a person is living is the truest act of contextual creation. Technologies must be agonized in the selection and optimized for their use but the battle is really won because the person has been met where they're at. Not through segmentation but by deep connection and understanding (the more scientific the better 😝).